–Pix above: PBAT
PLEASE SHARE
The suspension of the long-awaited student loan scheme introduced by the Federal Government has sparked various reactions from different quarters.
Recall that the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government postponed the launch of the Student Loan Scheme once again.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, stated this in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday.
Sawyer said the loan scheme was postponed due to some corrections that were being made around the launch.
The postponement comes barely 48 hours before the launch.
In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed a bill to start a Student Loan Fund that would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.
A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, proposed the bill and it was supposed to start between September and October 2023.
Meanwhile, Tinubu said the programme would begin in January 2024, after missing the October deadline.
In January, Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, said at a meeting that preparations for the program were finished. This included creating the Student Loan Scheme website and planning how to start the programme.
President Tinubu also told leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students that the programme would start once they added more features, like vocational studies.
Following this development, some events watchers took to social media to express their views regarding student loan suspension.
@GEzeronye wrote; “How can the student loan plan go on when the Senators are sharing Nigeria’s money allegedly. N2.5 billion for Akpabio to buy freezers and generators for his constituents and another N500 million for senior senators. How can Nigeria even survive with this type of looting?”
@DeborahToluwase wrote, “The Federal Government honestly needs to come clean on this student loan thing. Ajuri came out two days ago to say that the Student Loan scheme will be launched on Thursday (Tomorrow); “…only for the Executive Secretary of the Loan Fund, Akin Sawyerr to say that some corrections still needed to make and hence he can’t commit to a certain date as regards the launch. This is not a good image at all. Why giving a launch date for an half baked policy?”
@akomscopy wrote, “The reason why this delay in the student loan scheme is generating mix reactions is because the policy, when implemented, will be beneficial to mostly the poor and middle class. It’s important for the government to get it right, once and for all.
“If you study the body language of Mr. President, you will know he wants to give it all, and he said “nobody should be left behind” when it comes to this scheme.
“Not leaving anyone behind means there must be due diligence in getting many things right before launching,” he stated.
@captaindee10 wrote: “Do they even know the population of students in Nigeria? The loan things was a scam,they had no plans for that..”
@PrinceofSydney wrote: “You can’t give what you don’t have. It will take a lot of work to establish a student loan scheme.
“Is there a student loan Act? Who can be classified as a student? How do you prove I am a student? How will you get the loans back? How many students do you have in Nigeria?”
@CollinsAEtim1 wrote: “Nigerians are not stupid. People saw the errors in the then ‘proposed’ student loan and voiced out. The job of Mr President and his team is to work towards a better form, not postponing it indefinitely…. And this is Nigeria, this indefinitely may mean close to 2027.”
@bechiny wrote: “They padded 4trn in the budget for themselves but couldn’t give students just 15 billion loan? Nigerian politicians are the most wicked ppl on earth.”
@OraclesTweet wrote: “Renewed Shege: Student loan – postponed; Minimum wage increment – not approved; President 5billion yatch – bought; VP 15billion house renovation – approved. On your mandate, we shall stand.“
Meanwhile, the the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono has assured that the launch of the student loan scheme has only been postponed for a couple of weeks and not indefinitely.
He said this at the TETFUND headquarters in Abuja when the governor of Kwara state paid him a courtesy visit.
Echono said the delay in the launch is only to make sure that there are no complications in the proper implementation of the scheme and to ensure that the scheme is up to standard.
Echono said, “The loan has not been postponed indefinitely, there’s just a little housekeeping that needs to be done, the president has arrangements in place for the launch.
“We are discussing a matter of days, maximum weeks for it to take off. The president is very committed to this, and I can assure you that this is going to be done in the best way.
“We don’t want to hurriedly launch the programme, and there are objections, and it isn’t sustained.
“We’re making sure that the loan can accommodate as many that need it. Even for people with skills, it’s going to be a game changer. We’re working hand in hand with JAMB, we know when admissions will commence, so we are not far behind.
“In the next couple of weeks, the scheme will take off, and it will accommodate everyone, even students of vocational studies.”
@Esupo Wale: “From the beginning, I know they are building castle in the air. How can anything good come from Babylon?”/PLEASE SHARE
